Targeting content to network-enabled television devices

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for managing content, including advertising content, delivered to various network-connected devices, including screens, mobile devices, computers, televisions, radios, and the like, based on usage profiles associated with device-specific identifiers for mobile devices, short-distance wireless technologies for transmission of content and detection of proximity, and content targeting and management techniques.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/040,475 filed Mar. 4, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/926,015 filed Oct. 28, 2007, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/855,820 filed Sep.14, 2007. Application Ser. No. 11/855,820 claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional App. No. 60/825,708 filed Sep. 14, 2006. Each of theforegoing is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The methods and systems herein described relate to mobile deviceidentification and authentication for access to and presentation oftargeted content.

2. Description of the Related Art

Methods and systems exist for targeting content, including advertisingcontent, directed to users of network-connected devices, such astelevisions, mobile handsets, computers, radios, advertising screens andthe like. Such content-targeting methods face various challenges,depending on the users and devices to which content is targeted. Forexample, television and radio advertisements are often directed to amass audience, with little information about specific users. Internetadvertisements may be based on cookies or similar mechanisms thatindicate that a user is returning to a particular site, but targetingbased on cookies and similar information are subject to limitations,among them being that multiple users may access the Internet through thesame device. Mobile content may be targeted more easily to a specificuser, such as based on information about the user in a databasemaintained by a wireless carrier or based on the user's interaction withcontent on the mobile handset, but the more limited range of contentthat can be delivered to mobile devices means that profiles based onthat usage are often limited and sometimes misleading. Accordingly, aneed exists for better methods of targeting content to users of alltypes of network-connected devices.

SUMMARY

Methods and systems are disclosed herein for delivering content,including advertising content, to various network-connected devices. Invarious embodiments disclosed herein, methods and systems take advantageof capabilities and information available in various networking domainsto deliver more targeted content to each of those domains, includingusing the collective capabilities and information derived from multipledomains to deliver content to each domain.

One embodiment of the methods and systems disclosed herein relates totelevision content and advertising. In certain such embodiments a userprofile may be derived from an individual's usage of a range ofdifferent types of network-connected devices, and the profile may beused to target television content, including advertisements, to theuser. The network-connected devices from which usage profiles arederived may include mobile phones, computers, Internet-connectedentertainment devices (such as Internet-connected televisions andradios) and other devices. Capabilities of mobile handset technologiesmay be used to unify a profile of a user across variousnetwork-connected devices. In embodiments, a device-specific identifier(DSI) of a mobile device owned by a user, such as a MAC address of theuser's mobile phone, may be associated with user names that the userenters when interacting with network content, such as web sites, usingthat mobile device. Once the DSI is associated with one or more usernames, activities associated with those user names can be tracked andused to generate a profile for that user, regardless of whatnetwork-connected device is used to undertake the activities.Additionally, when a user interacts with network content using variousnetwork-connected devices and does not enter a username, activityperformed during those sessions may still be categorized into profilesas the device-specific identifier of the device through which theinteractivity was performed is still recorded. As such activity may bederived from more than one user of the same device, patterns in activityperformed on such devices without the accompaniment of a username may beconducted to find similarities among the network activity recordedcontaining both a DSI and username or to find similarities particularlyto the network activity conducted on the user's mobile device as it isthe most individual-specific network-connected device. Furthermore, whena user interacts with network content using a given network-connecteddevice and does not enter a username, but during the same session ofactivity, on the same given network-connected device, as determined byproximity of access times, interacts with a second set of networkcontent with a supplement of a username, activity performed with thefirst instance of network content, which was not supplemented with ausername may be associated with activity performed with the second setof network content which was supplemented with a username, thus allowingactivity performed with two unique sets of network content, one with ausername, one without a username, to be categorized under the sameprofile of user activity. Thus, a multi-device profile may be createdfor that user, such that activity on a network performed on anetwork-connected device whether accompanied by a username or not, canstill be categorized into a single profile for a user which represents awide range of activities across multiple devices and domains. Once ausage profile is generated, targeting techniques, such as handtargeting, demographic targeting, geographic targeting, psychographictargeting, collaborative filtering, neural network-based targeting,hierarchical targeting, and the like may be used to target content,including advertisements, to be directed to the television of the user.In embodiments, use of short-distance wireless technologies supportsmore specific targeting of content to a user or a group of users andenables digital rights management, security and content management. Inparticular, a short-distance wireless communication between a mobilehandset and another network-enabled device, such as using a Bluetooth,WiFi, WUSB, UWB or other wireless protocol, allows the methods andsystems disclosed herein, in certain embodiments, to determine or verifythe proximity of the user's handset, and by inference the user, to theother network-enabled device. Thus, a user's proximity to a televisionscreen can be determined by using a short-distance wireless protocol toaccess the MAC address of the handset. Once proximity is determined orverified, it can be used for various purposes, including tracking whatthe user (or other nearby users) view on the television screen, such asfor ratings purposes, managing (including with digital rights managementtechniques) the content the user is allowed to view on the screen(including allowing the user to share content from a user's library aslong as the user's mobile handset is in proximity to the screen), andtargeting the content directed to the user on the screen, includingadvertising, for which a user-specific profile which includes theactivities performed on a multitude of network-connected devices may bereferenced. Thus, the methods and systems disclosed herein allow foruser-specific control of content delivered to the screen the user iswatching, based on proximity of the user's mobile handset to the screen.

Another embodiment of the methods and systems disclosed herein relatesto radio advertising. In certain such embodiments a user profile may bederived from an individual's usage of a range of different types ofnetwork-connected devices, and the profile may be used to target audiocontent, including advertisements, to the user. As in other embodiments,the network-connected devices from which usage profiles are derived mayinclude mobile phones, computers, Internet-connected entertainmentdevices (such as Internet-connected televisions and radios) and otherdevices. Capabilities of mobile handset technologies may be used tounify a profile of a user across various network-connected devices. Inembodiments, a device-specific identifier (DSI) of a mobile device ownedby a user, such as a MAC address of the user's mobile phone, may beassociated with user names that the user enters when interacting withnetwork content, such as web sites, using that mobile device. Once theDSI is associated with one or more user names, activities associatedwith those user names can be tracked and used to generate a profile forthat user, regardless of what network-connected device is used toundertake the activities. Additionally, when a user interacts withnetwork content using various network-connected devices and does notenter a username, activity performed during those sessions may still becategorized into profiles as the device-specific identifier of thedevice through which the interactivity was performed is still recorded.As such activity may be derived from more than one user of the samedevice, patterns in activity performed on such devices without theaccompaniment of a username may be conducted to find similarities amongthe network activity recorded containing both a DSI and username or tofind similarities particularly to the network activity conducted on theuser's mobile device as it is the most individual-specificnetwork-connected device. Furthermore, when a user interacts withnetwork content using a given network-connected device and does notenter a username, but during the same session of activity, on the samegiven network-connected device, as determined by proximity of accesstimes, interacts with a second set of network content with a supplementof a username, activity performed with the first instance of networkcontent, which was not supplemented with a username may be associatedwith activity performed with the second set of network content which wassupplemented with a username, thus allowing activity performed with twounique sets of network content, one with a username, one without ausername, to be categorized under the same profile of user activity.Thus, a multi-device profile may be created for that user, such thatactivity on a network performed on a network-connected device whetheraccompanied by a username or not, can still be categorized into a singleprofile for a user which represents a wide range of activities acrossmultiple devices and domains. Once a usage profile is generated,targeting techniques, such as hand targeting, demographic targeting,geographic targeting, psychographic targeting, collaborative filtering,neural network-based targeting, hierarchical targeting, and the like maybe used to target content, including advertisements, to be directed tothe audio-enabled devices, such as Internet radios, of the user. Inembodiments, use of short-distance wireless technologies supports morespecific targeting of content to a user or a group of users and enablesdigital rights management, security and content management. Inparticular, a short-distance wireless communication between a mobilehandset and another network-enabled device, such as an Internet-radio,such as using a Bluetooth, WiFi, WUSB, UWB or other wireless protocol,allows the methods and systems disclosed herein, in certain embodiments,to determine or verify the proximity of the user's handset, and byinference the user, to the other network-enabled device. Thus, a user'sproximity to an Internet radio can be determined by using ashort-distance wireless protocol to access the MAC address of thehandset. Once proximity is determined or verified, it can be used forvarious purposes, including tracking what the user (or other nearbyusers) listen to on the audio-enabled device, such as for ratingspurposes, managing (including with digital rights management techniques)the content the user is allowed to listen to on the audio-enabled device(including allowing the user to share content from a user's library aslong as the user's mobile handset is in proximity to the audio-enableddevice), and targeting the content directed to the user on theaudio-enabled device, including advertising. Thus, the methods andsystems disclosed herein allow for user-specific control of contentdelivered to the audio-enabled device to which the user is listening,based on proximity of the user's mobile handset to the audio-enableddevice.

Another embodiment of the methods and systems disclosed herein relatesto point-of-presence content delivery, such as live event contentdelivery and point-of-sale advertising. In certain such embodiments auser profile may be derived from an individual's usage of a range ofdifferent types of network-connected devices, and the profile may beused to target point-of-presence content, including advertisements, tothe user. As in other embodiments, the network-connected devices fromwhich usage profiles are derived may include mobile phones, computers,Internet-connected entertainment devices (such as Internet-connectedtelevisions and radios) and other devices. Capabilities of mobilehandset technologies may be used to unify a profile of a user acrossvarious network-connected devices. In embodiments, a device-specificidentifier (DSI) of a mobile device owned by a user, such as a MACaddress of the user's mobile phone, may be associated with user namesthat the user enters when interacting with network content, such as websites, using that mobile device. Once the DSI is associated with one ormore user names, activities associated with those user names can betracked and used to generate a profile for that user, regardless of whatnetwork-connected device is used to undertake the activities.Additionally, when a user interacts with network content using variousnetwork-connected devices and does not enter a username, activityperformed during those sessions may still be categorized into profilesas the device-specific identifier of the device through which theinteractivity was performed is still recorded. As such activity may bederived from more than one user of the same device, patterns in activityperformed on such devices without the accompaniment of a username may beconducted to find similarities among the network activity recordedcontaining both a DSI and username or to find similarities particularlyto the network activity conducted on the user's mobile device as it isthe most individual-specific network-connected device. Furthermore, whena user interacts with network content using a given network-connecteddevice and does not enter a username, however during the same session ofactivity, on the same given network-connected device, as determined byproximity of access times, interacts with a second set of networkcontent with a supplement of a username, activity performed with thefirst instance of network content, which was not supplemented with ausername may be associated with activity performed with the second setof network content which was supplemented with a username, thus allowingactivity performed with two unique sets of network content, one with ausername, one without a username, to be categorized under the sameprofile of user activity. Thus, a multi-device profile may be createdfor that user, such that activity on a network performed on anetwork-connected device whether accompanied by a username or not, canstill be categorized into a single profile for a user which represents awide range of activities across multiple devices and domains. Once ausage profile is generated, targeting techniques, such as handtargeting, demographic targeting, geographic targeting, psychographictargeting, collaborative filtering, neural network-based targeting,hierarchical targeting, and the like may be used to target content,including advertisements, to be directed to a point-of-presence device,such as a screen or audio-enabled device, that is in proximity to theuser. In embodiments, use of short-distance wireless technologiessupports more specific targeting of content to a user or a group ofusers and enables digital rights management, security and contentmanagement. In particular, a short-distance wireless communicationbetween a mobile handset and another network-enabled device, such asusing a Bluetooth, WiFi, WUSB, UWB or other wireless protocol, allowsthe methods and systems disclosed herein, in certain embodiments, todetermine or verify the proximity of the user's handset, and byinference the user, to the other network-enabled device, in this case apoint-of-presence device such as a screen at a live event, apoint-of-sale screen, or a point-of-presence audio-enabled device. Thus,a user's proximity to such a point-of-presence device can be determinedby using a short-distance wireless protocol to access the MAC address ofthe handset. Once proximity is determined or verified, it can be usedfor various purposes, including tracking what the user (or other nearbyusers) view on a screen or hear on an audio-enabled device, such as forratings purposes, tracking the effectiveness of advertising, managing(including with digital rights management techniques) the content theuser is allowed to view on the screen (including allowing the user toshare content from a user's library as long as the user's mobile handsetis in proximity to the screen), and targeting the content directed tothe user on the screen, including advertising. Thus, the methods andsystems disclosed herein allow for user-specific control of contentdelivered to the screen or audio-enabled device the user is watching,based on proximity of the user's mobile handset to the screen oraudio-enabled device.

One embodiment of the methods and systems disclosed herein relates toInternet content. In certain such embodiments a user profile may bederived from an individual's usage of a range of different types ofnetwork-connected devices, and the profile may be used to targetInternet content, including advertisements, to the user. Thenetwork-connected devices from which usage profiles are derived mayinclude mobile phones, computers, Internet-connected entertainmentdevices (such as Internet-connected televisions and radios) and otherdevices. Capabilities of mobile handset technologies may be used tounify a profile of a user across various network-connected devices. Inembodiments, a device-specific identifier (DSI) of a mobile device ownedby a user, such as a MAC address of the user's mobile phone, may beassociated with user names that the user enters when interacting withnetwork content, such as web sites, using that mobile device. Once theDSI is associated with one or more user names, activities associatedwith those user names can be tracked and used to generate a profile forthat user, regardless of what network-connected device is used toundertake the activities. Additionally, when a user interacts withnetwork content using various network-connected devices and does notenter a username, activity performed during those sessions may still becategorized into profiles as the device-specific identifier of thedevice through which the interactivity was performed is still recorded.As such activity may be derived from more than one user of the samedevice, patterns in activity performed on such devices without theaccompaniment of a username may be conducted to find similarities amongthe network activity recorded containing both a DSI and username or tofind similarities particularly to the network activity conducted on theuser's mobile device as it is the most individual-specificnetwork-connected device. Furthermore, when a user interacts withnetwork content using a given network-connected device and does notenter a username, however during the same session of activity, on thesame given network-connected device, as determined by proximity ofaccess times, interacts with a second set of network content with asupplement of a username, activity performed with the first instance ofnetwork content, which was not supplemented with a username may beassociated with activity performed with the second set of networkcontent which was supplemented with a username, thus allowing activityperformed with two unique sets of network content, one with a username,one without a username, to be categorized under the same profile of useractivity. Thus, a multi-device profile may be created for that user,such that activity on a network performed on a network-connected devicewhether accompanied by a username or not, can still be categorized intoa single profile for a user which represents a wide range of activitiesacross multiple devices and domains. Once a usage profile is generated,targeting techniques, such as hand targeting, demographic targeting,geographic targeting, psychographic targeting, collaborative filtering,neural network-based targeting, hierarchical targeting, and the like maybe used to target content, including advertisements, to be directed tothe Internet-connected device of the user. In embodiments, use ofshort-distance wireless technologies supports more specific targeting ofcontent to a user or a group of users and enables digital rightsmanagement, security and content management. In particular, ashort-distance wireless communication between a mobile handset andanother network-enabled device, such as using a Bluetooth, WiFi, WUSB,UWB or other wireless protocol, allows the methods and systems disclosedherein, in certain embodiments, to determine or verify the proximity ofthe user's handset, and by inference the user, to the othernetwork-enabled device. Thus, a user's proximity to anInternet-connected device can be determined by using a short-distancewireless protocol to access the MAC address or other DSI of the handset.Once proximity is determined or verified, it can be used for variouspurposes, including tracking what the user (or other nearby users) viewon the Internet-connected device, such as for ratings purposes, managing(including with digital rights management techniques) the content theuser is allowed to view or listen on the device (including allowing theuser to share content from a user's library as long as the user's mobilehandset is in proximity to the device), and targeting the contentdirected to the user on the device, including advertising. Thus, themethods and systems disclosed herein allow for user-specific control ofcontent delivered to the screen the user is watching or the audio-deviceto which the user is listening, based on proximity of the user's mobilehandset to the Internet-connected device.

One embodiment of the methods and systems disclosed herein relates tomobile advertising. In certain such embodiments a user profile may bederived from an individual's usage of a range of different types ofnetwork-connected devices, and the profile may be used to targettelevision content, including advertisements, to the user. Thenetwork-connected devices from which usage profiles are derived mayinclude mobile phones, computers, Internet-connected entertainmentdevices (such as Internet-connected televisions and radios) and otherdevices. Capabilities of mobile handset technologies may be used tounify a profile of a user across various network-connected devices. Inembodiments, a device-specific identifier (DSI) of a mobile device ownedby a user, such as a MAC address of the user's mobile phone, may beassociated with user names that the user enters when interacting withnetwork content, such as web sites, using that mobile device. Once theDSI is associated with one or more user names, activities associatedwith those user names can be tracked and used to generate a profile forthat user, regardless of what network-connected device is used toundertake the activities. Additionally, when a user interacts withnetwork content using various network-connected devices and does notenter a username, activity performed during those sessions may still becategorized into profiles as the device-specific identifier of thedevice through which the interactivity was performed is still recorded.As such activity may be derived from more than one user of the samedevice, patterns in activity performed on such devices without theaccompaniment of a username may be conducted to find similarities amongthe network activity recorded containing both a DSI and username or tofind similarities particularly to the network activity conducted on theuser's mobile device as it is the most individual-specificnetwork-connected device. Furthermore, when a user interacts withnetwork content using a given network-connected device and does notenter a username, however during the same session of activity, on thesame given network-connected device, as determined by proximity ofaccess times, interacts with a second set of network content with asupplement of a username, activity performed with the first instance ofnetwork content, which was not supplemented with a username may beassociated with activity performed with the second set of networkcontent which was supplemented with a username, thus allowing activityperformed with two unique sets of network content, one with a username,one without a username, to be categorized under the same profile of useractivity. Thus, a multi-device profile may be created for that user,such that activity on a network performed on a network-connected devicewhether accompanied by a username or not, can still be categorized intoa single profile for a user which represents a wide range of activitiesacross multiple devices and domains. Once a usage profile is generated,targeting techniques, such as hand targeting, demographic targeting,geographic targeting, psychographic targeting, collaborative filtering,neural network-based targeting, hierarchical targeting, and the like maybe used to target content, including advertisements, to be directed tothe mobile device of the user. In embodiments, use of short-distancewireless technologies supports more specific targeting of content to auser or a group of users and enables digital rights management, securityand content management. In particular, a short-distance wirelesscommunication between a mobile handset and another network-enableddevice, such as using a Bluetooth, WiFi, WUSB, UWB or other wirelessprotocol, allows the methods and systems disclosed herein, in certainembodiments, to determine or verify the proximity of the user's handset,and by inference the user, to another mobile device. Thus, a user'sproximity to a mobile device can be determined by using a short-distancewireless protocol to access the MAC address or other DSI of the handset.Once proximity is determined or verified, it can be used for variouspurposes, including managing (including with digital rights managementtechniques) the content another user is allowed to access on anothermobile device (including allowing the user to share content from auser's library as long as the user's mobile handset is in proximity tothe other user's device), and targeting the content directed to the useron the other device, including advertising.

One advantage of the methods and systems herein is they enable a drasticimprovement in the television advertising industry. There are certaintechnology and business drivers for a higher penetration of moreadvanced set-top boxes that may be associated with improvements intelevision advertising.

DVDs may become a technological non-necessity in a few years. Users willconsume video via a direct feed/download. This video data will need togo through a data box in the home that routes not only video, but otherdata streams such as voice and Internet data inside the home. As aresult, viewers that will not subscribe to premium television channelswill likely have an advanced set-top box for the consumption ofnon-premium television channels and for watching movies.

Fixed-Mobile-Convergence (FMC) indicates that landlines may soon becomea technological non-necessity. A device that switches a cell phone'sconnection from a cell-tower to the broadband connection inside the home(in the form of cable, satellite, Fixed WiMax, or other broadbandconnection) may become necessary. It is very reasonable to assume,especially with the triple and quadruple play packages being presentedto consumers, that the features of such a device will eventually beembedded into the same unit that controls video downloads includingtelevision and movies.

Using the mobile device is potentially the only way to attain areal-time, live assessment of who is watching the television and tailorthe advertisements delivered to the unique combinations of viewers. Afather and son watching television content together represent two veryunique advertising markets. To best take advantage of this blend ofviewers simultaneously viewing television, for the purposes of accurateand proportional advertising, a device that is overwhelmingly individualspecific such as the mobile handset may provide tremendous value.

Additionally, activity performed on a mobile handset as a portion ofoverall activity performed on a network-connected device, is increasingrapidly and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

For Internet publishers of websites, blogs, or for Internet retailers,the server-side software which facilitates the creation of user-specificprofiles rooted in the mobile DSI but which also take into considerationall network-connected devices, is a technology that may but will notnecessarily, provide the same value as a free advertising network forInternet websites, blog publishers, or Internet retailers allowing themaccess to the best available user-specific Internet usage metrics sothey can serve the best possible ads on available ad inventory or in thecase of an Internet retailer, promote the best products suited forvisitors to the given Internet retailer's website. Based on the content,fees may be collected by a provider of a mobile DSIidentification/authentication service, such as for video, unlimitedviewing, extending the content on a given Internet platform to anotherplatform such as television content, portable/flexible electronicscreens used to make digital text portable, radio, and the like.

As a result of mobile carriers dealing with voice revenue decayingrapidly and as even the margins on data consumption are becominghyper-competitive, mobile carriers are rapidly seeking ways to monetizetheir high penetration numbers through advertising. From businessprocesses which rely upon the methods and systems disclosed herein,mobile carriers may receive a portion of advertising revenue fromvarious sources of advertising, including television which accounts for34% of all advertising dollars in the US or $72 billion in 2006. Asvideo on the internet becomes more prevalent, advertising relatedrevenue will only grow and through technological advances, televisionand internet advertising and content delivery will benefit.

Digital Rights Management synergies with content producers are enabledby the methods and systems herein. Content production companies such asNews Corporation can enjoy digital rights management services to protecttheir premium content while using the methods and systems herein to aidin the serving of highly-precise, targeted ads, such as by using DSIbased identification/authentication profiles.

Placing an emphasis on a mobile handset's device-specific identification(DSI) as a base for a user-specific profile generated from activityperformed on various network-connected devices may be based on anunderstanding that it is essentially carried on a given user's personand thus is very individual-specific. Additionally, since it is carriedon a given user's person, it follows the user in many places where otherdevices such as a PC/laptop might not, thus allowing user-specificprofiles created with specific dependencies and ties to the mobilehandset, to be portable by virtue of the inherent portability of mobilehandset. Additionally, when attempting to aggregate all the Internetusage habits of a user across various devices, beginning with the mobileDSI may facilitate the aggregation by enabling the use of clues orinformation associated with the mobile handset DSI and the associateduser to determine what other information, found as a result of Internetusage on other network-connected devices associated with the same user,to aggregate with it. Starting with a fixed position, or multi-userdevice, such as a PC, a television, or other stationary Internet-enableddevice presents user identification challenges that the mobile handsetdoes not. These challenges are mainly rooted on the basis that suchdevices may, and often, have multiple regular users. Therefore themobile handset may serve as a primary identification device for ascenario in which the methods and systems herein (e.g. identification orauthentication) could be applied for advertising, content/software as aservice-authentication, and the like. The mobile handset is widelyregarded as becoming the most frequently used computing interface,making it ideal for user authentication purposes. However, the methodsand systems described herein do not all require a mobile component, andtherefore, for the purposes of the unique methods and systems describedherein, they can be associated with mechanisms that do include a mobilecomponent.

These and other systems, methods, objects, features, and advantages ofthe present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and thedrawings. All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated intheir entirety by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention and the following detailed description of certainembodiments thereof may be understood by reference to the followingfigures:

FIG. 1 depicts a DSI-based authentication/identification platform.

FIG. 2 depicts using a mobile handset DSI to facilitate delivery oftargeted television advertising.

FIG. 3 depicts providing recent historical usage information (internetbrowser cache data) from a mobile device to a server on the internet.

FIG. 4 depicts determining a presence and a location of mobile handsetsin proximity to a set-top box.

FIG. 5 depicts determining a presence and a location of mobile handsetsin proximity to a set-top box in order to determine a presence ofviewers by virtue of the presence of their mobile handsets.

FIG. 6 depicts uploading DSI or browser cache data over the internet toa host and the processing there.

FIG. 7 depicts a typical wireless network device gaining access tointernet resources.

FIG. 8 depicts a very simplified embodiment of the internet with aplurality of web sites and servers.

FIG. 9 depicts the delivery of client side software by a web server to amobile handset.

FIG. 10 depicts client side software communicating the device identifieror device-specific identification (DSI) over the internet.

FIG. 11 depicts the creation of DSI-specific logs being facilitated by aweb server's server-side software once it has obtained a mobilehandset's DSI.

FIG. 12 depicts a device other than a mobile device providing a DSI forthe creation of DSI-specific logs facilitated by a web server'sserver-side software once it has obtained a mobile handset's DSI.

FIG. 13 depicts a plurality of devices, submitting their respective DSIsto servers, for the production of DSI-specific usage logs.

FIG. 14 depicts formation of user-specific authentication/identificationprofiles as a result of DSI and username aggregation and compilation ofusage logs associated therewith

FIG. 15 depicts real-time audience tracking of embedded web objects thatmay be a distribution method for super distributed content inassociation with DSI-based audience tracking

FIG. 16 depicts filtering user information as DSI-based logs and usagedata is passed to servers on the internet.

FIG. 17 depicts delivering authentication protected content in aDSI-enabled digital rights management/content authentication system.

FIG. 18 depicts layered targeted advertising based on one user profile.

FIG. 19 depicts layered targeted advertising based on two user profiles.

FIG. 20 depicts dynamic content placement in association with layeredtargeted advertising based on two user profiles.

FIG. 21 depicts using a mobile handset to interact with an interactivetargeted advertisement presented by a set-top box on a television

FIG. 22 depicts the embodiment of FIG. 21 wherein the advertisement ispresented on a personal computer.

FIG. 23 depicts the embodiment of FIG. 21 wherein the advertisement ispresented on an electronic multimedia screen.

FIG. 24 depicts an alternate embodiment of FIG. 21 wherein theadvertisement is presented on a flexible electronic presentation media.

FIG. 25 depicts a timeline representing real-time accumulation of usagedata impacting targeted advertising.

FIG. 26 depicts contact sharing between DSI-enabled wireless mobilehandsets and uploading the contact to a social networking site.

FIG. 27 shows methods and systems for automatic mobile contactinformation exchange and synchronization with a social network.

FIG. 28 shows steps for a mobile aware, automatic social networkingtool.

FIG. 29 shows additional details relevant to a mobile aware, automaticsocial networking tool.

FIG. 30 shows components for a mobile aware, automatic, socialnetworking system.

FIG. 31 shows methods and systems for managing content based on adevice-specific identifier of a client.

FIG. 32 shows steps for integration of content in the playback softwareof a user device.

FIG. 33 shows downloading and integration of content into playbacksoftware of a user device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, in certain preferred embodiments of the methods andsystems disclosed herein, a DSI-based authentication/identificationplatform 100 may include profile aggregation 124, content tagging 122,user identification 120, authentication 114, usage logging 112, astandards facility 118, a short haul wireless port 110, a profiledatabase 130, an internet port 128, client software 102, device MACaddresses 104, and a device username 108. A mobile device 202 mayinclude some portions and functionality of the platform 100. The mobiledevice 202 may also be connected to the platform 100 through the shorthaul wireless port 110 and/or through the Internet port 128.

FIG. 2 depicts using a mobile handset DSI to facilitate delivery oftargeted television advertising 218. A mobile handset 202 may be incommunication with a set-top box 204 or other Internet-connected devicethat is controlling a television 208. The mobile handset 202 may be incommunication with the set-top box 204 through a wireless interface 214,such as short distance wireless interfaces including WiFi, Bluetooth,WUSB, UWB and the like. The mobile handset 202 may include locationtechnology such as a GPS receiver/cellular/radio wave triangulation tofurther assist locating the relative position of the handset user andthe television 208. The set-top box 204 may be connected to one or morehost servers 210, such as through the internet, to communicate contentrelated to functions of the set-top box 204. The host server 210 mayinclude functionality to support the identification and selection ofcontent, such as advertisements 218, based the mobile handset 202device-specific identification (DSI).

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, a viewer who may be carrying the mobilehandset 202 on his person may sit down in front of a television that isconnected to the Internet. The internet connection may be via theset-top box 204, which may be one provided by a cable company, satellitecompany, internet service provider, etc. The set-top box 204 may also beseparate from the ones provided by the providers of television/internetdata services (e.g. Microsoft's X-box, AppleTV, and the like).Alternatively the television 208 may provide internet communication.

To deliver targeted advertising 218 to a user of the mobile handset 202who may be viewing the television 208, the set-top box 204 may extractthe mobile handset DSI 212 by employing a short-distance wirelesstechnology (WiFi, Bluetooth, WUSB, UWB, and the like) to locate mobilehandsets within viewing proximity of the television 208. The mobilehandset DSI 212 (also known as mobile DSI or just DSI) may then beuploaded from the set-top box 204 over the internet to the host 210 formatching to a user-specific authentication/identification profile (auser profile) that corresponds to the uploaded DSI 212. The servers 210may be servers associated with the DSI platform 100, or may beassociated with partners or affiliates of the platform 100. The server210 may mine data across an uploaded user authentication/identificationprofile that corresponds to the extracted mobile DSI 212 and use theinformation for precision advertisement targeting. By using locationbased technology such as GPS/cellular/radio wave triangulation, a moreprecise location for the user may be determined so that advertising fora user viewing the television may be presented on the television 208.The location based technology information may be retrieved from themobile handset 202, such as by querying the mobile handset 202 or thelocation information may be included in the initial extraction of theDSI 212 by the set-top box 204. The host server(s) 210 may then find themost appropriate advertisement 218 and distribute the advertisement backto the set-top box 204 for display on the television 208. In an example,advertisements 218 may come in the form of dynamic, embedded contentadvertisements 218. Interactivity during the period of display of theadvertisement can be monitored and recorded by the servers 210 for thepurposes of adding more data to the corresponding userauthentication/identification profile.

An alternative embodiment for delivering targeted advertising 218 to atelevision that may be viewed by a user of a mobile handset is depictedin FIG. 3. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, recent historical information302 from the mobile handset 202 web browser or other user interfacesoftware may be retrieved by the set-top box 204 and forwarded to theservers 210. Alternatively, the servers 210 may prepare a query that ispassed to the handset 202 by the set-top box 204 and the recenthistorical information 302 may be included in a response to the query.

In addition to, or in place of sending the DSI 212 to the server 210,the set-top box 204 may extract information, in its entirety or derivedfrom the mobile handset's Internet browser cache and forward it to theservers 210. The extracted internet recent historical information 302,such as represented by a internet browser cache, may be combined with auser profile or usage profile corresponding to the DSI 212 to determinerelevant analysis about the historical information 302. Alternatively,the recent historical information 302 may be analyzed alone. Theinformation may be analyzed for demographic, interests, trends, and thelike that may facilitate the servers 210 determining an appropriateoffer or advertisement 218 to present on the television 208 that theuser of the mobile handset 202 may be viewing.

In an embodiment, presence of a mobile phone may be used to identify theusers who are present/within viewable proximity in front of a televisionor other electronic display by virtue of the distance of their mobilehandsets from the television or other electronic display. Communicationwith a mobile phone or mobile handset 202 may include usingshort-distance wireless technologies, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, WUSB, andUWB to identify nearby mobile handsets 202. Precise user location mayfurther be determined via device-specific GPS/cellular/radio wavetriangulation alignment. Such detection may be used to derive real-timeand accurate content audience ratings.

FIGS. 4 and 5 each depict determining a presence and a location ofmobile handsets in proximity to a set-top box. Using radio wavedistance-mapping methods, the set-top box may determine a distance and adirection of mobile handset 202. The set-top box 204 and/or internettelevision 208 may determine if the presence and distance of detectedmobile handsets 202 can support an assumption that the detected mobilehandsets 202 represent individuals 502 within viewing proximity 508 ofthe television, or viewers 504 outside a viewing proximity 508 of thetelevision 208. This will allow the set-top or the television todetermine individuals within viewing proximity of the television byvirtue of the presence of their mobile handsets. Individual handsets 202may be detected uniquely by retrieving the handset DSI 402 and, whenavailable, a GPS/cellular/radio wave triangulation coordinate 404 forthe handset. By associating the DSI 402 with a user identification asdescribed in reference to FIG. 2, an identity of the viewers orlisteners in detectable proximity to the television 208 may bedetermined.

The methods and systems herein may facilitate real-time television orother electronic display audience rating/headcount via use of mobile DSIand/or mobile handset internet browser cache. Once it has beenestablished that individuals, by virtue of the presence of their mobilehandsets, are viewers in front of a given television or other electronicdisplay, the methods and systems herein may include using the mobileDSIs of the given mobile handsets (and profiles of usage associatedtherewith, including usage of non-mobile devices) for the purposes ofretrieving a real-time, audience ratings/headcount, which pertains tovarious demographic categories/metrics. This may involve the use ofInternet usage profiles associated with the mobile DSI but also may takeinto consideration usage activity from non-mobile devices. Usageprofiles provide a way of tracking of Internet activity which can resultin strong assumptions of real-time, viewer-specific demographic data.

Alternatively real-time viewer attendance may be determined through theextraction of each proximate mobile handset's Internet browser cache, inplace of extraction of the mobile DSI, which can also effectively reportreal-time viewer demographical data as determined by the Internet usagepatterns which can be recognized by analyzing the mobile handset'sInternet browser cache contents.

Referring to FIG. 6, after establishing unique mobile handsets orpersonal devices as determined by the presence and distance of theirmobile handsets from a nearby a television or other electronic displayas described in reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the set-top box 204 or thetelevision 208 uploads the detected mobile device DSIs to host servers210. The servers 210 compare the extracted Mobile DSI 212 across adatabase of user-specific authentication/identification profiles 602 tofind the profiles which correspond to the extracted mobile DSIs(resulting in a corresponding profile 604). Using information from thecorresponding user-specific authentication/identification profiles 604,servers 210 may make demographic assumptions.

Alternative to using the mobile device DSI and cross referencing it to adatabase of user identities, demographics and audience classificationmay be determined by analyzing an internet browser cache 302 associatedwith the proximate mobile handsets. Information such as historicalbrowsing data, queries, locations, communication such as texting, email,and the like may be analyzed by the servers 210 to determine real-timeviewing audience aspects.

Through this method, a mobile handset may effectively allow for thecreation of real-time audience ratings which include variousdemographics determined by identifying the participants in a viewingaudience as well as relative Internet usage metrics. The derived ormeasured real-time viewing information may be provided in a report tobroadcasters, advertisers, and the like to become part of a broadcast orprogramming business process.

User-specific authentication/identification profiles may be based onmobile device or personal device device-specific identifications (DSIs),such as for the purposes of user-specific multi-device internet usagetracking and profiling. User-specific authentication/identificationprofiles may include a user identity, usage tracking, and the like.Establishing user-specific profiles may involve tracking of activitiesassociated with user names that are linked or tied to the mobile DSI;and linking those usernames to other (non-mobile) DSIs to aggregateuser-specific activities regardless of which device(s) the activitiestake place. One useful purpose for this aggregation of mobile andnon-mobile activity tracking is targeted advertising.

Defining, extracting, and using mobile device specific identifiers(DSIs) may make use of server-side and/or client-side software.Server-side software may reside on the servers 210 or may resideelsewhere and be executed on the servers 210. Client-side software maybe downloaded onto or otherwise configured into mobile and/or stationarydevices used by end users. The client-side and server-side software maybe used when a mobile device user visits a website in order to gainaccess to content residing on servers that require authentication and/oruser identification. One or more of the client-side and the server-sidesoftware may include creating and updating logs associated with a mobiledevice DSI once a known visitor has gained access to servers providingaccess to the requested authentication protected content. DSI based logsmay differ from cookies or other Internet usage logging technologies inthat DSI logs may have the ability to completely mask the real worldidentities of users as their user-specific authentication/identificationprofiles can be created with a process that results in the completemorphing or excluding of anything that renders the user identifiable inthe real world. Additionally, the DSI specific logs are initiated,conducted, and managed on the server side rather than on the device asis common for cookies. Also, client-side software may providecapabilities that pertain to uploading device-specific information andexisting information already contained in the mobile device prior toengagement with the server 210 or with the website a given user isattempting to access. This results in an important difference frominformation/behavioral software existing today such as cookies that logbehavioral activity on the client device.

FIG. 7 depicts a typical wireless network device gaining access tointernet resources. Mobile handheld device 202 communicates through awireless provider's network that may comprise cellular phone towers 702for cellular connections such as CDMA, GSM, or IP-based WiMaxconnections. The wireless provider's network may include an access pointto the internet through which a mobile handset 202 may send and receiveinformation over the internet. The same mobile device 202 may alsocommunicate through a wireless IP-based interface, such as WiMax, orWiFi, and other wireless protocols such as Bluetooth, WUSB, or UWB andthe like 704. The WiFi router 704 may interface to the internet througha WiFi Back-Haul 708 such as through T3, Cable, DSL, or any otherbroadband connection. This exemplary network connection scheme mayprovide an access path from the mobile handset 202 to the internet andservers such as a host server 210 herein described.

For pedagogical purposes, FIG. 8 depicts a very simplified embodiment ofthe internet with a plurality of web sites and servers, wherein some websites require authentication and/or identification, and other web sitesmay often provide a fulfilling web experience without the collection ofusernames/passwords normally associated with authentication. Web sitesrepresented by web servers 802 and 804 may, based on a need for userauthentication/identification operate server-side software 808associated with the systems and methods herein described. In FIG. 8, itis assumed that web servers 802 execute the herein described server-sidesoftware 808, and web servers 804 do not. Generally, although variationsmay occur, websites 802 may require a username/password to be input byvisitors for a more personalized experience (e.g. social networks,email, and the like).

FIG. 9 depicts when a mobile handset 202 identifies itself to a webserver 802, such as through the network described in any of FIGS. 1through 7 and server-side software 808 executing on the server may run acheck on the mobile device 202 to see if it has the most currentclient-side software 902. If the mobile device does not have the mostcurrent client-side software 902, the user may be asked to download itto gain access to content on the authenticated website. Downloading ofthe client-side software 902 onto the mobile handset 202 may befacilitated by the server-side software 808 residing on a website'sservers. Alternatively, the latest client-side software 902 may beautomatically downloaded to a device 202 that has identified itself tothe server 802.

Referring to FIG. 10, upon completion of download and installation,client-side software 902 may begin executing on the mobile device 202.The client-side software 902 may be responsible or collecting relevantand necessary information from and about the mobile device, such as aMAC address, username, password, browser cache settings, and the like toprovide a DSI 212. The client-side software 902 may deliver the DSI 212to a web site/internet server contemporaneously with a first access tothe web site/internet server 802. A web site server 802 that isexecuting the server-side software 808 may collect the DSI 212 duringauthentication, or if authentication is not required, the server 802 mayalso collect the DSI 212. Information stored on the mobile device 202,such as a browser cache, may be transmitted to the server 802 to updateinformation related to the device DSI 212. It is important to note thatunlike cookies, the client-side software 902 will not monitor the devicerelated activities of the user, rather just identify of the device(mobile or non-mobile) that is currently connected to the server 802along with existing properties of that device is recorded. Although pastbehavior may be included in the information uploaded to the server 802,such as data derived from an Internet browser cache on the device,logging of the activities once the device has been connected to a givenwebsite server 802 will be done by the server-side software 808, not theclient side software 902.

Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, upon receipt of a DSI 212, a server 802executing server-side software 808 may begin tracking usage of thewebsite supported by the server 802 in a DSI specific log 1102. FIG. 11depicts a configuration with a mobile device 202 providing the DSI 212;whereas FIG. 12 depicts a device other than a mobile handset providing aDSI 1202, such as a PC, providing the DSI 212. Information collectedfrom the mobile device 202 or the non-mobile handset device 1202 mayinclude the device identifier (e.g. the MAC address), username,password, GPS/cellular/radio wave triangulation data, browser cachedata, and the like. The information collected may be stored inassociation with the mobile device DSI log 1102 as shown in FIG. 11 orwith the non-mobile handset device DSI log 1204 as shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 13 depicts a configuration wherein at least two devices and aplurality of servers are embodying the methods and systems hereindescribed. The embodiment of FIG. 13 includes a mobile device 212, adevice that is not a mobile handset may be a wired PC, a laptop withWiFi, or any other Internet-enabled device that is not a mobile handset.1202, a plurality of servers 802 executing server-side software 808 andrecording a usage log (1102, 1204) for each device (202, 1202).

Referring to FIG. 14, the DSI information and the usage logs may beforwarded onto a host server 210 for the purposes of analyzing andrelating the various information to provide usage or user profiles. FIG.14 depicts a host server 210 accessing the information collected fromthe mobile or non-mobile handset and the corresponding usage logs todetermine associations between them. In particular the host server 210may determine that two different DSIs and corresponding usage logs maybe associated with a single user or a single entity, such as a business.By collecting a DSI and recording a usage log for each connection of aDSI enabled device to a server 802 executing server-side software 808, ahost server 210 may associate a username that may have been provided bya user of a DSI enabled device to access authentication protectedinternet content with the same or related DSIs collected by otherservers 802 and reported to the host server 210. In the embodiment ofFIG. 14, three usage logs from three different servers are analyzed toassociate a username to a DSI and its corresponding usage data. The hostserver 210 may also search through a database of existing DSIs, usagelogs, and usernames to determine such an association. The database ofexisting DSIs and usernames may be derived from data provided by webservers 802 connected to the internet and is not restricted to the threeweb server log configuration depicted in FIG. 14. By identifyingassociations between the usage logs provided to the host server 210, thehost server 210 may create user profiles, such as userauthentication/identification profiles that may be useful for purposessuch as targeted advertising, while enabling the protection of theprivacy of the individual associated with the user profile throughmorphing the identifying information so that third parties, such asadvertisers, cannot determine the user's identity. The host server 210may also provide privacy protection by requiring the advertisers totarget advertisements to users through the host server 210.Alternatively, the user authentication/identification profile, or dataderived from it, may be provided to third parties, such as advertisersor web sites so that one or more devices identified by DSIs associatedwith the user profile may be targeted to receive advertising. Bymorphing data from the DSI logs that are created and kept on a webserver, and sending the morphed data to the host server, the host servermay anonymously create user-specific profiles across various devices. Inthis way, even the host server does not have the information necessaryto find the real world identity of the user associated with the userprofile.

Referring further to FIG. 14, host server 210 accesses usage logs fromat least three servers. Usage logs that directly contain common usernames are aggregated into a user authentication profile 1404. In thisembodiment, usage logs 1102, 1204 and 1102A can be identified by thehost server 210 as having common usernames. Usage log 1204A does nothave a username that matches those aggregated into profile 1404 so it iscompared to a data store 1402 of usernames and associated DSIs thatincludes historical data as well as usage data being provided by otherweb servers to the host server 210. Usage log 1204B is associated withuser profile 1408, while usage log 1102B is compared to the data store1402. The lookup of the usernames and/or DSIs from usage logs 1102B and1204A through data store 1402 results in usage log 1102B beingaggregated with user profile 1404 and usage log 1204A being aggregatedwith user profile 1408.

In addition to checking usernames in usage logs against other usagelogs, DSIs in usage logs may also be checked in a similar way. A usagelog that contains a DSI but does not contain a username may beaggregated with a user profile by associating the DSI in the usage logwith the information in the data store 1402 to determine an appropriateuser profile for aggregating the usage log data.

Even when there is no direct correlation among usernames and DSIs, suchas when a DSI does not have any username associated with it, a userprofile may be created for the DSI so that all usage associated withthat DSI may be aggregated under the DSI specific user profile. In thisway, user authentication/identification profiles may be established andused even without a username or other personal identifying informationassociated with the profile.

Because users often perform a variety of activities during an on-linesession or connection, time analysis of logs may facilitate determininguser names for DSI log entries for which a user name is not required bythe server generating the DSI log. If activity associated with a DSI islogged by a website that requires a username login, and another sitethat doesn't require a username logs activity from the same DSI atnearly the same time, such as shortly before or after the websiterequiring login, it can be determined that for those particular sessionsof activity, the visitor is likely to be the same.

When a plurality usage profiles with different DSIs and withoutusernames, are collected by the host server 210, the host server mayanalyze the usage related data to determine associations that may allowthe formation of a user profile associated with the different DSIs.

FIG. 15 is a depiction of the methods and systems herein applied toembedded web objects for real-time audience tracking of superdistributed content. Software residing on website servers which allowsembedded objects (e.g. widgets, flash objects, videos, music, and thelike) may be adapted to extract the DSI of a device on which the websiteis being executed and the DSIs of surrounding mobile devices. Thisinformation may be sent to the embedded object's point of origination,the visited website's own point of origination, and/or one or more hostservers 210. This will aid in the process of attaining real-timeaudience ratings for music, video, and other interactive objects thatare embedded across several websites (often known assuper-distribution). This method of audience gauging makes irrelevantwhich website the embedded object was accessed from or through whatdevice it was accessed with because the viewer information can becollected without having to rely on a specific website. Additionally,using the methods and systems herein described, it is possible forembedded content, regardless of which website it is hosted on, to haveaudience ratings that do not rely upon statistics generated for or bythe website on which the embedded content is hosted. Instead, theaudience ratings may be obtained from user-specificauthentication/identification profiles.

In FIG. 15, a plurality of users of mobile devices 202 may be in closeproximity to a viewing or listening device 1502 (such as a screen,computer, radio, and the like) on which a website with embedded objects1504 is being presented. The DSI of the device 1502 and all proximatemobile devices 202 may be collected and delivered to a web server 802providing the web site content and the embedded objects 1504. The webserver 802 may collect DSI usage logs 1512 and forward the collectedDSIs and usage logs 1512 to the host server 210 through the server-sidesoftware 808. The host server may package the collected usage data andrelate it to each embedded object 1504, perhaps along with demographicinformation of all collected DSIs (as may be determined from the userprofiles corresponding to the collected DSIs by accessing the userprofile data store 1402) to provide audience ratings 1508 for theembedded objects 1504. The determined audience ratings 1508 may also besent to the embedded objects' 1504 originating web server 1510 forcorrelation and further audience analysis.

The methods and systems may enable ensuring privacy of selectuser-specific profile/profile activity data via server-to-server datamorphing and data exclusion. The methods and systems herein may includethe ability to morph or exclude specific parts of the user-specificauthentication/identification profile or specific activity associatedwith a given profile for the purpose of making certain the real worldidentity associated with the given user-specific identification profileremains private. The result is a highly individualized profiling systemthat successfully leaves private, the real world identity of those beingprofiled.

By supporting real world identification to provide digital rightsmanagement for authentication protected content and then using morphedinformation related to the usage by the DSI accessing the protectedcontent, such as for targeted advertising, both the protected individualand the public advertiser may benefit without creating a conflictbetween the private user and the targeted advertising provider.

Referring to FIG. 16, when a host server 210 passes information from auser-specific authentication/identification profile 1602, selectinformation, as determined by the purpose of the data exchange,(targeted advertising or content digital rights management, etc) such asname, address, credit card information, etc can be filtered out by afiltering module 1604 that, for example, finds common patterns incomputer code. In an example, data fields containing variations of theform “Name” (indicating the next field of user-inputted information tobe user's real world name), or Credit Card, and the like can be searchedvia pre-designed algorithms so such information does NOT pass coherentlyfrom the host server 210 to another server, such as a third partyadvertiser 1608 or service provider 1610. Alternatively, a web server802 may pass DSI based usage logs through a privacy filter 1612 (thatmay be embodied as a portion of server-side software 808) to ensureinformation deemed private or protection-worthy by the web server 802,or as specified as such by the user is not delivered to the host server210. Filtering techniques may be applied throughout the transfer of DSIbased information before and after the formation of a user profile.

Using short-distance wireless communication to pass a mobiledevice-specific identification, such as a DSI, to another nearby device,such as another mobile device or an internet connected device, may allowthe mobile device-specific identification to be used to secure contentthat is presented (e.g. displayed, stored, played, and the like) on theother device. Examples wherein the mobile DSI may be used to securecontent presented on another device include authentication for digitalrights management and content sharing. An example of content sharing mayinclude playing music, movies, shows, and the like authenticated by amobile device DSI, such as a mobile phone, while the phone is inproximity to the sharing device—but only while the phone is inproximity. When the phone is no longer in proximity, the content sharingdevice may be denied access to present the authenticated content.Digital rights/authentication could be associated with theauthentication/identification profile corresponding to the mobile phoneDSI. This authentication/identification profile may also be used fortargeted advertising. However digital rights management data that istransferred to third parties may include an interface that is moretransparent of the specific individual, such as by keeping other data(e.g. surfing habits) out of view or filtered from the third party.

In an embodiment of the digital rights authentication process hereindescribed, content authentication may include tagging a representationof the authenticated mobile DSI onto the protected content/service priorto distributing the protected content/service to a device which isproviding the sharing or presentation capability. In this way,client-side software associated with the sharing or presenting devicemay ensure that the authenticated DSI mobile device remains in proximityto the sharing device. When such proximity is no longer detected, thetagged content may be invalidated, deleted, or otherwise blocked fromaccess by the sharing/presenting device.

In reference to FIG. 17, authentication protected streamed data 1702such as text, data tables, embedded pictures, music, video and the like,can be tagged with the mobile DSI of the mobile handset 202, providing aDSI authentication tagged content 1704, so that only the authorizeduser, as determined by the mobile handset 202 that matches the mobileDSI stamped onto the content during stream or download, will be able toaccess the tagged content 1704. Tagging the protected content 1702 mayprevent other users on wireless networks, or in the vicinity, frommaliciously or accidentally intercepting the data in coherent form as itwill be tagged with the authorized user's mobile DSI. Such tagging mayrender the content invalid for correct playback unless the authenticateduser mobile device DSI is detected within proximity. Alternatively, thetagged content may be incoherent to any device other than the devicecontaining the authenticated DSI. Tagging may be performed by the webserver 802 by communicating with an authentication entity 1710, such asthrough the server-side software 808. The authentication entity 1710 mayprovide an authentication DSI 1708 that may be converted into a tag andcombined with the protected content 1702 to provide tagged protectedcontent 1704.

In embodiments, once on the mobile handset, protected content may bestreamed to another device via short distance wireless communication(e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth, WUSB, or UWB) during which time playbacksoftware on the receiving device may temporarily play content as it istransmitted from the mobile handset to the receiving device. Thereceiving device may then, such as using client-side software installedon the receiving device, upload a tag for the protected content (such asa tag that is or is associated with the DSI of the sending handset) forauthentication on a host server. In embodiments both a DSI of thereceiving handset and a DSI of the sending handset may be used to managerights of the users to play the content.

Depending on terms that may be set between the authentication entity(such as the DSI platform 100) and the rightful distributor of theprotection enabled content, only information that is necessary forauthentication may be submitted to the authentication entity. Limitingthe information sent to the authentication entity may restrict what theauthentication entity knows about the user's digital rights. In anexample, authentication deal terms are solely on a transactionpercentage/fixed fee basis. Therefore, information transferred to anauthentication entity may only include financial transaction informationrelated to the authentication entities fee structure. As such, each timea transaction takes place in which the authentication entity is entitledto a fee, the authentication entity would be notified only of thatspecific information which allows the authentication entity to determineand verify the revenue owed to the authentication entity. In anotherexample, the authentication entity has a financial institution as apartner website. The authentication company and the financialinstitution will work out a deal such that for each user that thefinancial institution wishes to authenticate to access their accountinformation, the authentication company will charge 10 cents annually.In this example, the authentication company would receive datapertaining to each time a user account is created and each time one isdeleted. No other information would flow from the financial institutionto the authentication entity. In another example, the authenticationentity has a completely non-financial deal with an online site thatprovides content to registered users (e.g. a social networking site, anonline version of a newspaper that charges for subscription, apure-online newspaper, a content provider to registered users, and thelike). In this example, the authentication entity may receive userinformation, such as the user's real name and identity or a useridentity determined from a mobile DSI associated with the authenticationrequest. The information might include entertainment interests,demographic information, and the like. The selected user information canbe used in a multitude of ways and can be a set of market data, thevalue of which could be further enhanced through operationalcombinations using processes described herein.

Mobile DSI-enabled personal online account digital rights management maybe associated with the methods and systems herein described. Users maybe allowed, on their own discretion, to limit access to an onlinefacility, such as certain personal online accounts (e.g. email, socialnetwork, bank, brokerage, etc.) so that those accounts may only beaccessed if a mobile handset, which users assign at their owndiscretion, is nearby the device through which access is attempted toone of the personal accounts. Users may identify specific DSIs orspecific users that may be associated with a mobile handset DSI. Thespecified users or DSIs may be maintained by an authentication entity sothat requests to access to a DSI protected account may be authenticatedbased on proximity of one or more user specified mobile handsets to thedevice through which the request to access the online facility is made.An authentication response may be provided from authenticationfunctionality embodied in the authentication entity, or in an entityassociated with the DSI protected account. Based on the response, accessto the online facility may be allowed or denied. In addition, the usermay specify DSIs that must not be in proximity to the requesting deviceto enable authenticated access to the account.

The methods and systems herein may allow users, on their own discretion,to limit access to certain personal content (e.g. documents, pictures,video, and the like) accessible through an online facility so that theprotected personal content, wherever it resides (e.g. an online socialnetwork, online photo album, online video server) may only be accessedby a user as assigned by the personal content publisher/owner. In anexample, Mary allows her mom and her brother to view online photo albumX while allowing her brother to access online photo album X and onlinevideo Y. When Mary's mother and brother seek access to online photoalbum X, they are granted access when one or more of the mobile DSIsassociated with Mary's mother or brother are in proximity to the devicerequesting access. However, only when Mary's brother's mobile device DSIis within proximity to the requesting device, will access to video Y begranted. Access is granted using similar DSI authentication methodsdescribed herein that may include an authentication server, anauthentication, tagging of protected content, and the like.Authentication may include matching the DSIs of devices in proximity toa list of authorized users by determining a user associated with eachDSI to be matched. The matching may be performed by an authenticationentity. Alternatively, the server-side software may receive a list ofauthorized DSIs (such as from an authentication entity) and may performthe matching. Personal authentication services may be offered toindividuals for a fee, may be provided as part of a DSI based digitalrights management protection package, or may be provided free of chargeto individuals. Alternatively, content providers or servers may pay afee to use DSI-based authentication services.

DSI-based user identification and profiling may allow layeredviewer-specific advertising. Layered user-specific television, radio,and/or internet advertising support another layer of advertising withinan existing advertising space. This may be embodied as multipleconfigurable or selectable images essentially in a stack that isselectable by the user or by display device software based DSIs ofdevices that are in proximity to the display device. Layereduser-specific advertising may include the ability to split up eachadvertisement frame among multiple ads or among various categories ofads so that a reconstituted advertisement based on the user-specificidentification/authentication profiles of the viewers who are in frontof the display device (or audio device) can be presented to the user(s).Layering may enable various portions of an advertisement to becustomized and targeted to the viewers local to a presentation device.

Layered user-specific advertisements may also include a concept of ablanket advertisement that is targeted using general demographics basedon the user profiles determined from the DSIs in viewing proximity. Theblanket advertisement may be replaceable by the presentation device byan advertisement that is targeted to specific viewers. In an example,two families viewing the same television program through two differentset-top boxes may see different advertisements. One family may haveviewers with no mobile devices in proximity to the set-top box (or withdevices providing DSIs that have no determinable association to targetedadvertising) so that family may view the blanket advertisement. Theother family may include viewers who are carrying mobile devices thatpresent DSIs that can be determined to satisfy a requirement for atargeted advertisement. This family may not be presented the blanketcommercial. Instead the set-top box (or server connected to the set-topbox) may present a targeted advertisement in place of the blanketadvertisement. While this concept supports layering of entireadvertisements, it also extends to layering portions of anadvertisement.

An advertisement may be composed of layers, frames, regions, elements,primitives, and the like that may be customizable through a targetingprocess. One or more of these layered portions of an advertisement maybe customized with targeted content based on the determined viewers ofthe advertisement. In an example a sporting goods store advertisementmay allow targeting various individuals by allowing products included inthe advertisement to be user specific. While a base of the advertisementmay be common to all presentations of the advertisement, a viewer with ausage profile that indicates the user has an interest in golf may bepresented with golf product promotions, whereas a viewer determined tohave an interest or have expressed an interest in basketball may bepresented with basketball related product promotions within theadvertisement, such as during the same advertisement on the sameinternet-enabled device such as a television connected to aninternet-enabled set-top box.

When more than one viewer with differing targeting criteria is viewingoutput from the same set-top box (or internet connected device), thelayering may allow more complex targeting. In an example, anadvertisement for a sports drink may include images of a person activein a sport who needs a sport drink to be refreshed. The sport images maybe targeted to one of the viewers, and the sport drink may be targetedto another of the viewers, thereby presenting an advertisement withrelevance to both viewers.

FIGS. 18 and 19 depict layered user-specific advertisements. FIG. 18depicts a single determined viewer receiving targeted layeredadvertising. A host server 1802 may determine information about theviewer by accessing the corresponding user-specificauthentication/identification profile and usage data 1804. From theprofile data 1804 and other information from the device such as locationinformation 1808 (which may be derived from gps receiver/cellular/radiowave triangulation certain advertisement targeting criteria may beestablished, such as age assumptions 1810, social network affiliations1812, and search activity 1814. The embodiments are exemplary of somecategories of information. The categories of information or where thatinformation is from, or how it is categorized is not bounded or limitedby these examples. These several examples only show the potentialcomplexity of mixing and matching these categories with various viewersunder various situations, such as layered, embedded, combined, or otherscenarios. The advertisement targeting criteria may influence whatinformation is presented in the layered portions of the advertisement1818. The advertisement 1818 may reflect a composition as determined bythe internet-enabled device and the various media formats it mayreceive? (e.g. set-top may receive video, images, audio; radio mayreceive audio; outdoor LCD may receive video, images and the like. Thelayered objects may represent the finished, delivered components of theadvertisement 1818 as determined by the various targeting mechanismsdescribed here such as by passing targeting information through theinternet to the display or audio device 1820 on which the targetedadvertisement 1818 is to be presented. In the embodiment of FIG. 18, ageassumptions 1810 may be used to determine the main advertisement 1822 tobe presented. Age assumptions 1810 and current location 1808 maydetermine which local establishment 1824 to present, and currentlocation 1808 combined with search activity 1814 may determine whichproduct or service 1828 associated with the local establishment 1824 topresent.

FIG. 19 depicts targeting layered advertisements based on more than oneviewer. In the embodiment of FIG. 19, age assumptions 1810 and 1910 fromthe different viewers contribute to determining the main advertisement1922 to be presented. Social networking 1812 from a first viewer maydetermine which local establishment 1924 to present, and search activity1814 if the first viewer may be combined with social networking 1912 ofthe second viewer to determine which product or service 1928 associatedwith the local establishment 1924 to present.

FIG. 20 depicts a targeted advertising scenario in which portions ofcontent, such as a movie, television show, video, or othernon-advertisement specific content may support creating dynamic embeddedcontent advertising. Product placement in movie production is a highvalue market that can be significantly enhanced through targeting theproduct placement. In targeted product placement, specific items withinthe content being viewed, such as a soda bottle, a store sign may bedynamic and may be configurable to suit the viewer-specific audience asdetermined by the viewer's corresponding user-specificauthentication/identification profiles derived from the viewer'sDSI-based identity. In an example, during a given television program,three gentlemen walk into a restaurant. However, when viewers watch thiscontent, the storefront of the restaurant may change to reflect anactual local restaurant nearby the physical location of the viewers.This may further allow for interactivity that allows the viewer(s) toreference this actual local restaurant's current menus to proceedtowards a transaction for a delivery of food, a reservation for a meal,and the like. In another example, a character is drinking for a sodabottle. If the viewer has a demonstrated interest in drinks other thansoda, the soda bottle may change to be a branded water bottle, aprotein-drink, and the like.

In FIG. 20, age assumptions 1820 and 1910 of the two viewers mayidentify a portion 2002 of the content in which the product placementmay occur. A first product placement 2004 may be determined based on thefirst user age assumptions 1810 and online social networking 1812. Asecond product placement 2008 may be determined based on a second user'ssocial networking 1912 and search activity 1914.

The mobile device providing the DSI may be used as an interactivecontroller, such as a remote control or user input device to interactwith the user-specific targeted advertisements. Data inputted by theviewers may be anticipated using predictive algorithms that may takeinto consideration the user-specific authentication/identificationprofile that may be retrieved once the mobile DSI is extracted. Therange of interactivity may be based on aspects of the user-specificauthentication/identification profile corresponding to the extractedmobile DSI. Advertising interactivity may allow a viewer to respond to atelevision, electronic multimedia display, radio advertisement, and thelike via inputting information into the mobile handset which is thenwirelessly transmitted to the device controlling the presentation of theadvertisement. Another way of connecting the user inputted responses tothe interactive advertisement is by interfacing the mobile handset tothe device controlling the interactive advertisement through a networksuch as a cellular network and the Internet. Example use of a mobilehandset interacting with an interactive targeted advertisement mayinclude book marking advertisements, referring advertisements tofriends, responding to interactive games, polls, chat services, and thelike. However, when viewers watch this content, the storefront of therestaurant may change to reflect an actual local restaurant nearby thephysical location of the viewers. This may further allow forinteractivity which allows the viewer(s) to reference this actual localrestaurant's current menus to proceed towards a transaction for adelivery of food, a reservation for a meal, etc

User actions may be predicted based on a combination of the presentedtargeted content, such as an advertisement and aspects of theuser-specific authentication/identification profile. In an example,usage data associated with a viewer may indicate that the viewer may belikely to forward relevant content to one or more members of his socialnetwork. Based on this usage data and based on the content of thetargeted advertisement, a list of likely recipients of the content maybe prepared so that the viewer may easily interact through the mobilehandset to forward the content to the likely recipients. The list oflikely recipients may be based on usage data—such as based on frequencyof including one or more recipients in prior forwarded advertisements.The list may be based on an association of aspects of the targetedcontent to user-specific profiles of users in the viewer's online socialnetwork. Many other associations are possible in determining what typeof interaction may be predicted for the viewer of targeted advertising.

FIG. 21 depicts a mobile handset 202 interacting with an interactivetargeted advertisement 2112 by wirelessly transmitting a command 2110 toan internet connected device that may control the presentation of theinteractive targeted advertisement 2112. The interactive targetedadvertisement 2112 may include interactive portions 2102 and 2104 thatmay be configured to present predicted interactions as described herein.The interactive targeted advertisement 2112 may also include one or moreinteractive portions 2108 that may not be predicted interactions.Alternatively portions 2108 may be based on aspects of the user profile1804 and may not be interactive.

FIG. 22 depicts an internet connected computer 2202 that may receive andpresent advertisements that are interactive targeted, layered, embeddedor a combination of these and the like for a viewer determined on theproximity of mobile handset 202.

FIG. 23 depicts an internet connected electronic multimedia display2302, such as an outdoor display, a window display, a display at asupermarket checkout, a point of sale display, a kiosk (e.g. in anairport), a display in an airplane, a display in a taxi or publictransportation, and the like. The interactive electronic multimediadisplay 2302 may support interactive targeted advertising, gaming,shopping, social networking, and the like. The predictive interactionspresented on the electronic multimedia display 2302 may provideopportunities to engage the viewer on a temporary basis, such as whenthe viewer passes by a store display window, or when the viewer isriding in a taxi, and the like.

FIG. 24 depicts flexible electronic presentation media 2402 (flexibleactive-matrix display modules for ‘take anywhere, read anywhere’electronic reading), such as products available from Plastic LogicLimited connected to the internet and interacting with a mobile handset202. In embodiments, the flexible electronic presentation media 2402 maybe a handheld, portable replacement for the internet connectedelectronic multimedia display 2302 depicted in FIG. 23. In theembodiment of FIG. 24, the flexible electronic presentation media 2402may not include an independent internet connection connected directly tothe device 2402 or the device 2402 may use an existing nearby internetconnection, such as a WiMax or other cellular Internet connection, thatis available through the mobile handset 202. The relaying of theInternet connection from a nearby internet-connected device such as themobile handset may be facilitated through short distance wirelesscommunication (such as WiFi, Bluetooth, WUSB, UWB, and the like) betweenthe device 2402 and the nearby internet-connected device such as themobile handset. In such a scenario, the content, such as targetedadvertisements, presented by the flexible electronic presentation media2402 may be transmitted from a host 1802 through the internet to themobile handset 202 and to the media 2402. The features andcharacteristics described herein that may be associated with more thanone mobile handset being detected within a viewing proximity of adevice, such as the flexible electronic presentation media 2402 may beapplied to the embodiment of FIG. 24.

The presentation devices depicted in FIGS. 21-24 may alternatively beaudio only playback devices, such as an internet connected radio,digital music player, and the like. Audio content, including audioadvertisements may be targeted to be played for a listener withinlistening range of the device much like advertisements may be targetedto a viewer in appropriate proximity to the presentation devices ofFIGS. 21-24. An appropriate proximity may partially be determined by thecontent being displayed to the presentation device which may further bedetermined by the capabilities of the internet-enabled device.Interactive targeted audio advertisements may be played and interactedwith through the user's mobile handset by providing interactive signalssuch as an announcement to press a button on the handset.

FIG. 25 depicts a timeline of internet interactions or usage that may beassociated with a user so that the cumulative user interactionexperience may be applied to targeted advertising and other servicesthrough the timeline. In this way, interactions occurring at time 2504may impact advertising targeting, interaction prediction and the like attimes 2508, 2510, and 2512.

In FIG. 25, a user engages various Internet-connected devices throughoutseveral periods. The cumulative and real-time nature of theuser-specific authentication/identification profiles allowsadvertisements sent to the user via different platforms to reflect allof the user's past recognized Internet usage activities. In this way,FIG. 25 depicts how a time-sensitive, device-agnostic internetprotocol-based reactive relaying advertising platform may operate. Theplatform may operate so that while a user is watching content on atelevision, if the user also demonstrates interest in a particularproduct or product category of a DSI tracking enabled website (e.g.prior to or simultaneously with watching content on a television, anadvertisement could be delivered on the television in immediate responseto his Internet usage activity. Similarly, if a user is walking past anelectronic multimedia display that is equipped with DSI basedadvertisement delivery technology, the user may receive an advertisementthat is derived from information from his Internet usage on his mobiledevice, such as a website that the user is currently visiting.

In the timeline depicted in FIG. 25, at time 2504 a user engages a PC2502 with the Internet. At time 2508 the user engages a television 2518with an internet-connected set-top box 2514. Advertisement targetingprovided at time 2508 may include usage from time 2504. At time 2510 auser engages his mobile handset 202 and targeted advertising assumesusage from times 2504 and 2508. At time 2512, a user's mobile handset'sDSI is wirelessly extracted by an Internet-connected Electronic Display2520. Targeted ads sent to user at time 2512 may include usage fromtimes 2504, 2508, and 2510. This may be accomplished by host server 210updating user-specific authentication/id profiles in real-time, such asafter every recognized Internet engagement.

Referring to FIG. 26, automatic contact information exchange between twoindividuals via proximate mobile handsets may be supported by theDSI-based methods and systems herein described. A user of a mobilehandset 202 may initiate contact information exchange with anotherindividual with a mobile handset 2602 who is located in close proximityto the user. After verifying that the individual wishes to exchangecontact information, the two mobile handsets 202 and 2602 may exchangecontact information via the short range wireless connection. Inembodiments, an initiator 202 my request a receiver 2602 to accept theinitiator's contact information. Alternatively, the initiator 202 mayrequest the receiver 2602 to send the initiator 202 the receiver'scontact information. Alternatively, the initiator 202 may request thereceiver 2602 to mutually swap contact information.

Automatic exchange of contact information in the physical person, asdescribed above and in FIG. 26 may be supplemented by uploading thecontact information 2604 to a DSI-based authentication required onlinesocial networking platform 2608. The online social networking platform2602 may not require DSI-based authentication. In an example John meetsSarah at a company sponsored networking event, and they exchange contactinformation. John immediately categorizes Sarah under a “coworkers”group. The next time Sarah signs on to her social network, she will seeexactly what John's other contacts under his coworkers group sees, orwhat he wishes her to see specifically.

Enabling Sarah to view only the portions of John's social networkinginformation viewable to his coworkers takes only two steps. A first stepmay include one of John requesting Sarah for her contact information,John accepting Sarah's request to receiver her contact information, orJohn and Sarah both accepting a mutual swap of contact information. Asecond step involves John categorizing Sarah under a pre-made group ofcoworkers thereby assigning her accessibility rights to his socialnetworking profile.

FIG. 27 shows methods and systems for automatic mobile contactinformation exchange and synchronization with a social network. At astep 2702 a user receives a request for contact information from anotheruser within close physical proximity. A sending handset's DSI may beincluded in the data packet with the request for contact informationexchange. At a step 2704 the receiving mobile user may approve thecontact information exchange, in which case the recipient handset DSImay be included in the return data packet. At a step 2708 a socialnetworking profile may be linked to each mobile handset and may beupdated to reflect the contact information exchange.

Referring to FIG. 28, a method and system of mobile-aware, automatic,mobile social networking may alert a user of individuals who fall intoone or more pre-defined social network categories or groups who are inproximity to the user. Short distance wireless communications (e.g.WiFi, Bluetooth, WUSB, or UWB) or GPS/cellular/radio wave triangulationdata may be combined with DSI-based authentication/identification toidentify a distance between a user and individuals of potential interestand thereby alert a user accordingly. A user who wishes to meet someoneof a given background, similar hobbies or interest, or any otherpre-defined category can be alerted once he is within a pre-definedphysical proximity of such persons, if such persons allow it. Thus, at astep 2802 a handset may emit a mobile DSI via a short-distance protocol.At a step 2804 mobile handset within range may accept a mobile DSI of anearby handset. At a step 2808 a common social network may check thein-proximity DSIs to determine whether there are matching interests ofthe handset users and notify the users. At a step 2810 the users mayinteract, either using the handsets or in a live, in-person interaction.

Alerting a user to the presence of a mobile handset user meeting one ormore classifications, categorizations, or interest pools may bedetermined through a DSI based authentication process. In an embodiment,at a step 2802 software executing on a recipient mobile handset thatreceives a DSI from another mobile handset seeking to be alerted may runa check to see if the user of the seeking mobile handset is of anyinterest to the recipient. If so, the recipient may acknowledge the DSIby exchanging information such as messages, pictures, currentGPS/cellular/radio wave triangulated location, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 29, in embodiments a handset may emit a DSI at a step2902, along with a limited social networking profile. At a step 2904 arecipient handset may accept the mobile DSI and receive the limitedprofile. At a step 2908 social networking software on the mobile handsetmay determine whether there is a match between the profile of the firstmobile handset and a profile associated with the recipient handset, inwhich case both users may be notified. At a step 2910 users mayinteract.

Referring to FIG. 30, in an alternative embodiment, social networkingmanagement software on a given mobile handset may monitor aGPS/cellular/radio wave triangulated location of surrounding mobileDSI-enabled handsets. The DSI of each of the surrounding mobile handsetsand its corresponding social networking profile may be analyzed todetermine aspects of the users of the surrounding handsets, such asinterest categories, to facilitate the user of the GPS/cellular/radiowave triangulation monitoring device determining if any of thesurrounding users may be of particular interest. If so, contact exchangerequests may be initiated between the two mobile handsets using theshort distance wireless interface or through a network such as textmessaging or mobile emails is conducted today.

Physical person social networking may be facilitated by softwareexecuting on a mobile handset that transmits a limited social networkingprofile associated with the user of the mobile handset so that it can bereceived by surrounding mobile handsets. Software running on thesurrounding mobile handsets may perform checks against categories, andthe like as described above to determine if contact information exchangemay be beneficial. If so, requests for contact exchange may be performedbetween proximate DSI-based mobile handsets as described in reference toFIG. 26.

Referring to FIG. 31 and FIG. 32, file-less (non-file based) contentthat is stamped with a mobile DSI may enable digital rights managementfor safe content streaming while prohibiting content transfers betweenmobile handsets or other computing devices. Content to be downloaded toa mobile device may be tagged with signal that represents the mobile DSIof the device to which the download is directed. The tagged content maybe directly downloaded into a mobile handset and integrated with thesoftware used to present (playback) the tagged content. The mobile DSItag representation may be integrated with the content's metadata (ordata within the content which is used to describe the content, examplesinclude content title, copyright information, production year, etc). Thedownloaded tagged content may become an integral part of content that auser-specific authentication/identification profile may access. Becausethe content is integrated into an adapted playback application on themobile handset, the tagged downloaded content cannot be moved to anotherdevice permanently.

Referring to FIG. 33, some access to the tagged content, such as fortemporarily streaming to nearby playback devices (e.g. television, PC,another mobile handset) may be provided by the adapted playback softwarebut may include time limitations on access to the content by thereceiving device. The receiving or secondary device may upload themobile DSI through the Internet onto an authentication server for thepurposes of verifying if content playback is within the legal limits ofits use. In embodiments downloaded protected content cannot be copiedfrom the mobile device and moved somewhere else, but using contentplayback software the user may stream the content to a more desirableplatform or nearby device 3302, such as a nearby larger electronicdisplay (such as a network-enabled television screen), a better audiosystem, or the like.

The methods and systems described in this document and the referenceddocuments include many possible alternate combinations for the describedmethods and systems, such as wireless protocols and/or device-specificidentifications. In an example, utilizing a device's MAC address, whichis a standard unique identification assigned to every WiFi/WiMax adapterand Ethernet card (fixed—for facilitating a wired broadband internetconnection) as a basis for a device-specific identification (DSI) ormobile end user identification (MEUI) in a wireless protocol is onealternative combination. In this example, another alternative mayinclude the wireless protocol being based on Bluetooth, WUSB, UWB, andthe like, instead of being based on WiFi/WiMax/Ethernet connection.

In the various embodiments of the methods and systems disclosed herein,various technologies may be employed. In certain preferred embodiments,the methods and systems disclosed herein identify and/or authenticateuse of Internet-connected devices (mobile handsets—including cellularphones), PCs/laptops, television set-top boxes, televisions, and thelike) using, primarily but not limited to, a variety of device-specificidentification (DSI) types and techniques associated with variouswireless protocols. This objective may be associated with WiFi and WiMax(both of which may utilize MAC addresses), WUSB (Wireless USB), UWB(Ultra-wide Band), Bluetooth (e.g. Bluetooth 3.0), and other forms ofdevice-specific identifications. Other forms of DSI may not be derivedfrom an identification associated with a wireless protocol.

The methods and systems herein may facilitate building privacy-sensitiveand device-specific user identification and/or authentication profiles.The methods and systems may allow aggregation of various DSIs thatbelong to a number of different devices that may include any combinationof devices (i.e. 1 mobile handset, 1 PC, 1 set-top box and 2 laptops OR2 mobile handsets, 3 PCs, 1 laptops, etc.) and may tie it to specificusers WITHOUT necessarily revealing a given user's “real world” identity(e.g. to non-affiliated third parties). A mobile handset's DSI is anexample of a source of DSI used in the creation ofidentification/authentication profiles. The mobile handset's DSI may bethe primary or base DSI associated with theidentification/authentication profile. Other device DSIs may becomeassociated with a profile based on usage from those devices beingassociated with the usernames/surfing habits associated with the mobilehandset's DSI.

The methods and systems herein provide mechanisms that may transparentlymonitor the flow of device-specific or profile-specific information,such as a user-profile, while enabling a user's “real world” identity tobe scrambled or encrypted (herein referred to as morphed) such thatproviders or facilitators who have access to the communications withinthe process would be not be capable of deriving the user's real worldidentity. Such morphing of real world identities may occur by creatingunique algorithms that scramble a DSI or username-specific profile asthe information associated with that profile is transferred from apartner's server (a partner may include but is not limited to internetsearch and content companies such as Google, MySpace, internet emailsites such gmail.com or mail.yahoo.com, retail websites such asAmazon.com, and the like.)

User-specific identification and/or authentication profiles may beutilized for, but not limited to targeted advertising. Targetedadvertising may include delivering targeted advertising across variousmedia forms including but not limited to internet websites, television,internet television, outdoor advertising, mobile handset advertising,portable LCD-advertising, Internet radio, and the like. Mechanisms fordelivering targeted advertisements across each media form may vary butmay benefit from the core concepts of the methods and systems herein.

The methods and systems herein may facilitate creating contentauthentication and management systems or digital rights managementsystems using a mobile DSI, such as authenticating and managing accessrights to and management of content (e.g. free content or contentprovided for a fee) and Internet software-as-a-service informationcontent such as Lexis Nexus, Gartner, IDC, digital textbooks, and otherdigital media/digital information providers that grant conditionalaccess (for payment, or otherwise).

In regards to digital rights management/content authentication, due to amobile device's individual specific nature and its portability, a mobileDSI may provide a higher level of accuracy and flexibility than using asystem in which access to content is tied to a particular PC/laptop,set-top box, and the like. The latter is a system that is commonly usedin many current digital rights management schemes. Through the methodsand systems herein described, a user may essentially carry all of hisonline digital rights with him as it is rooted in a DSI from his mobilehandset. Although content may be exchanged with the user's mobilehandset through other devices, (e.g. a set top box, PC/laptop,television, kiosk, external advertising device, and the like), themobile handset DSI provides the means for authentication—independent ofany other device in the content transfer chain. This is beneficial inthat the other device(s) in the content transfer chain may have multipleusers, may not be secure, may not support digital rights management andmost importantly may be stationary in its location and thus not allowingthe authenticated user to carry his digital rights with him. Make thecomparison to a DVID? You bought it, you can take it with you. Not beingable to do that for digital content is a step backwards, not forward. Insuch a system, if a user attempts to access a Mobile DSI-protectedonline account through a PC/laptop, or other internet-connected device,short distance communication would take place between the user's mobilehandset and the internet-connected device at which point the user'smobile DSI would be passed to internet servers for authentication. Theserver at which the protected account exists may then attempt to matchan entered username/password combination against a pre-registered mobileDSI. The username/password may be collected at the time a user's accountis registered or at the time of an update/replacement of a mobile DSIfor the user's account). If the username/password combination matches upwith the mobile DSI, then the user will be granted access to the mobileDSI-protected account. If the mobile DSI does not match theusername/password of the account, the user will not be granted access.Standard mechanisms for lost passwords or for resetting a password mayalso be applied, such as the use of pre-registered secret passwordquestions.

Mobile handsets provide a variety of device-specific identificationtypes on which a DSI may be based. A mobile handset that is WiFi orWiMax enabled will have a MAC address, this MAC address may serve as aDSI. A mobile handset that is Bluetooth-enabled will have a BluetoothDevice Address. This Bluetooth Device Address may serve as a DSI. Aunique identification, potentially a serial code that identifies amobile handset's central processing unit (CPU) may serve as a DSI. Aunique identification, potentially a serial code, that identifies amobile handset's WUSB (wireless USB) or UWB (Ultra Wide-band) chipsetmay serve as a DSI. A mobile telephone number that is used to dial avoice connection or send a TXT message to a mobile handset may serve asa DSI. GSM phones use the International Mobile Equipment Identity orIMEI that may serve as a DSI. CDMA phones use Mobile EquipmentIdentifiers or MEIDs that may serve as a DSI. Other similardevice-specific identifications that are unique to a single physicalmobile handset may serve as a mobile DSI.

When connected wired or wirelessly, PC/laptops may contributedevice-specific information that may be used as a basis for a DSI. APC/laptop that has a fixed wired connection via an Ethernet card willhave a MAC address, this MAC address may serve as a DSI. A PC/laptopthat is WiFi or WiMax enabled will have a MAC address, this MAC addressmay serve as a DSI. A PC/laptop that is Bluetooth-enabled will have aBluetooth Device Address. This Bluetooth Device Address may serve as aDSI. A unique identification, potentially a serial code, whichidentifies a PC/laptop's central processing unit (CPU), may serve as aDSI. A unique identification, potentially a serial code, whichidentifies a PC/laptop's WUSB (wireless USB) or UWB (Ultra Wide-band)connection, may serve as a DSI.

Other consumer electronic devices that can be connected to an electronicnetwork such as the Internet may also have DSI. If the consumerelectronic device is capable of accessing an electronic network such asthe Internet, it may do so using a wired Ethernet connection using aEthernet card, or a wireless connection using a WiFi/WiMax connection,in both such scenarios, the device should have a MAC address that willbe used as its DSI>. Examples of such consumer electronic devicescapable of being connected to an electronic network include Televisionset-top boxes, Televisions, LCDs fixated outdoors, within retail stores,taxi cabs, other public transportation, Radio devices that areInternet-enabled, car radio devices that are Internet-enabled, and thelike. These other consumer electronic devices may use many of the sameor similar DSIs as mentioned above for mobile handsets or PCs/laptopsincluding the MAC address as a DSI if its available.

The role of MAC addresses in Internet protocol v4 and v6 may requireunique treatment. In Internet Protocol version 4, or IPv4, the IPAddress of a given device is 32 bits long and is assigned withoutembedding the device's unique, permanent, MAC-address. However, In IPv6,the MAC-address of a device is intended to be embedded into a device'sIP Address.

Public sources of information regarding the difference of the IPv6address and its relevance to MAC-addresses describe IPv6 addresses astypically composed of two logical parts: a 64-bit sub-network prefix,and a 64-bit host part, which is either automatically generated from theinterface's MAC address or assigned sequentially. Because the globallyunique MAC addresses offer an opportunity to track user equipment, andso users, across time and IPv6 address changes, RFC 3041(http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3041) was developed to reduce theprospect of user identity being permanently tied to an IPv6 address,thus restoring some of the possibilities of anonymity existing at IPv4.RFC 3041 (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3041) specifies a mechanism bywhich time-varying random bit strings can be used as interface circuitidentifiers, replacing unchanging and traceable MAC addresses

In IPv6, the possibility arises, that since the IP address includes theMAC address, that the IP address may become an easier and quicker way toderive a device-specific identification. The methods and systems hereinsupport methodologies using IPv6 and IPv4. In particular an IPv6 IPAddress or a MAC-address suited for IPv6 may facilitate determining andusing a DSI. It is anticipated that while IPv4 is the popular standardtoday, a transition to IPv6 is imminent.

Targeted television advertising may be associated with personal devices,such as through mobile DSI-enabled identification or with mobile deviceinternet browser cache/history content. Mobile DSI-enabledidentification←what?. Advertisement targeting may be improved throughthe use of mobile DSI device detection within proximity of a front of atelevision. Mobile DSI, as herein described, may uniquely identify anindividual through an association of a user profile with the Mobile DSI.By detecting a mobile device (through Mobile DSI detection) that ispositioned within viewing distance of a television and identifyingadvertisements targeted to the user of the detected mobile device, thetargeted advertisement may be presented to the television, or a set-topbox controlling the television, and displayed for the user. Theadvertisement may be targeted based on a variety of factors associatedwith the mobile DSI including a user profile associated with the mobileDSI.

Advertisements may be targeted to and presented to a user based on theuser's mobile DSI through a process that includes: gathering the deviceidentifier or device-specific identification (DSI) from the user'smobile device, associating the gathered DSI with a user identity toprovide a usage profile that may include usage tracking of contentinteraction through the mobile device and other internet enableddevices, using the usage profile to identify an advertisement or offer,determining which screen provides a good proximity to the user based onthe relative distance of the user's mobile DSI device from a screen, anddisplaying the advertisement or offer on the screen.

Alternatively in the methods and systems, PC and/or laptops can havewired connections, whereas for mobile devices this is typically not thecase. As such, referring to a wire connected PC/laptop MAC address isthe equivalent of a wireless PC/Laptop/Mobile Handset's WiFi MACaddress. As a result of such considerations, in the following describedprocesses and diagrams, device-specific identifications, including thosewhich are associated with wired or wireless technologies, arecollectively referred to as DSIs.

The elements depicted in flow charts and block diagrams throughout thefigures imply logical boundaries between the elements. However,according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depictedelements and the functions thereof may be implemented as parts of amonolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or asmodules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, orany combination of these, and all such implementations are within thescope of the present disclosure. Thus, while the foregoing drawings anddescription set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems, noparticular arrangement of software for implementing these functionalaspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context.

Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified anddescribed above may be varied, and that the order of steps may beadapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein.All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within thescope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or description ofan order for various steps should not be understood to require aparticular order of execution for those steps, unless required by aparticular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from thecontext.

The methods or processes described above, and steps thereof, may berealized in hardware, software, or any combination of these suitable fora particular application. The hardware may include a general-purposecomputer and/or dedicated computing device. The processes may berealized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embeddedmicrocontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or otherprogrammable device, along with internal and/or external memory. Theprocesses may also, or instead, be embodied in an application specificintegrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmable array logic,or any other device or combination of devices that may be configured toprocess electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that one ormore of the processes may be realized as computer executable codecreated using a structured programming language such as C, an objectoriented programming language such as C++, or any other high-level orlow-level programming language (including assembly languages, hardwaredescription languages, and database programming languages andtechnologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to run on oneof the above devices, as well as heterogeneous combinations ofprocessors, processor architectures, or combinations of differenthardware and software.

Thus, in one aspect, each method described above and combinationsthereof may be embodied in computer executable code that, when executingon one or more computing devices, performs the steps thereof. In anotheraspect, the methods may be embodied in systems that perform the stepsthereof, and may be distributed across devices in a number of ways, orall of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalonedevice or other hardware. In another aspect, means for performing thesteps associated with the processes described above may include any ofthe hardware and/or software described above. All such permutations andcombinations are intended to fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

While the invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferredembodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications andimprovements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled inthe art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention isnot to be limited by the foregoing examples, but is to be understood inthe broadest sense allowable by law.

All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

1. A method, comprising: collecting from a network-enabled device a MACaddress of a personal mobile device, data representing user on-lineactivity related to an advertisement embedded in content presented viathe network-enabled device while the personal mobile device is detectedvia a wireless communication to be in proximity to the network-enableddevice, and an identifier of the network-enabled device, the MAC addressof the personal mobile device being acquired by the network-enableddevice via the wireless communication; analyzing, with a server, thecollected user on-line activity to select an advertisement to suit aprofile, wherein the profile is determined based on user activityassociated with the MAC address of the personal mobile device; using theserver to identify a stored profile based on the acquired MAC address;associating the collected data representing the user on-line activity ofthe network-enabled device and the network-enabled device identifierwith the stored profile that was identified by the acquired MAC address,thereby associating the mobile device and the network-enabled devicewith a user represented by data in the stored profile; and in responseto receiving an indication of the personal mobile device being inproximity to a network-enabled television device, the indicationresulting from the network-enabled television device acquiring the MACaddress of the personal mobile device via short distance wirelesscommunication between the network-enabled television device and thepersonal mobile device when the personal mobile device is in shortdistance wireless communication proximity to the network-enabledtelevision device, making the selected advertisement accessible to theserver for presenting on the network enabled television device.